Thank you very much for your leadership in increasing federal funding for basic science research. As supporters of scientific research and education, we respectfully ask that you single out the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a priority in your fiscal year 2007 Continuing Resolution appropriations legislation. Specifically, we request that you fund NSF at the House-passed, President's requested level of $6.02 billion in fiscal year 2007. This is essential, because the flat funding for this agency under the Continuing Resolution will directly inhibit our national competitiveness and jeopardize American innovation.

The NSF is an agency that has suffered budget stagnation in recent years and even a budget cut in fiscal year 2005. We have not managed to come close to the doubling path for NSF set out in the 2002 Authorization Act. This year, however, we were heartened that the budget request for the NSF included a substantial increase for the "high-leverage fields of physical sciences and engineering" as part of the proposed American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). This boost in funding would allow for new innovative technologies to be developed by NSF-funded scientists and engineers. The full House and Senate appropriators supported the requested increase for NSF in the FY07 appropriations bills. Our colleagues understood that the increase represented a significant down-payment toward the goal of enhancing U.S. global competitiveness by investing in basic science research.

The NSF is the major source of federal funding in many fields such as the basic sciences, mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, and it funds approximately 20 percent of all federally-supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. If Congress provides only flat funding, peer-reviewed basic science research will suffer all across the country, NSFfunded researchers have won more than 170 Nobel Prizes and pioneered innovations that have improved quality of life of all Americans. Additionally, NSF consistently earns top scores in all of the Administration's budgetary performance measures and all grants awarded undergo a rigorous peer-review process.

Completing the remaining fiscal year 2007 appropriations by way of a long-term Continuing Resolution presents significant challenges and will necessitate some difficult choices. We fully appreciate the tight budget constraints that you are operating under, but a small investment in science yields immeasurable results. By including the requested level of funding for the NSF in the Continuing Resolution you would be reflecting the overwhelmingly bipartisan will of the Congress and making a significant investment in the future of our nation. We believe NSF is one of the nation's most important policy concerns and respectfully request that you fund NSF at the House-passed, President's requested level of $6.02 billion in fiscal year 2007.